Listening for the words in a quiet corner of the night. The fiction, poetry, and photography of Jason Evans.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Ventilation, Part 2 (fictionalized history)

(In 1952, polio reached its peak in the United States with 21,000 cases of paralytic polio. The first polio vaccine was introduced in 1955. By 1965, the total paralytic cases had fallen to 61. In this fictionalized history series, we will be experiencing the aftermath of polio, before the dramatic triumph of a vaccine. If you're just joining us, go back to Part 1.)

Julia's mother washed the dishes at the sink. Suds swirled in the rinse water. Outside the window, a blanket of blue settled over the light of day.

She pinched the phone against her shoulder. "Did you talk to her?"

"No."

"Do we know how bad it is?"

"Not really. But they left with the ambulance. As far as I know, they're still at the hospital. I think they stayed with her overnight."

"My God," she said. "I can't imagine."

"I heard that she had trouble breathing."

She stopped washing. "Oh no."

"Was she in Julia's class?"

"No. Julia knows her to say hi, but they're not friends."

"Good thing school is letting out."

"Amen. That's all I can say."

A bird thudded against the dining room window.

She saw its brown body land in the flower bed.

The wings splayed motionless. The tiny beak scissored, but no air seemed to come.

"Mom?"

She turned.

Her little boy squinted in his mismatched pajamas.

"What are you doing up?" She muffled the receiver.

"Julia's crying."

"She is?"

"I can't sleep."

She uncovered the phone. "Sorry. I'm going to have to let you go. Something's going on upstairs. Keep me posted on what happens."

Before she headed for the stairs, she noticed the bird stopped struggling.

Scott, they used to call polio, "the summer plague." The fear is spreading.

Sarah, from a technical standpoint, this is the level of intensity I use for novel writing. Sometimes switching back and forth between high intensity (blog) writing and novel writing makes me nervous. Glad this feels natural!

Szelsofa, perhaps you feel like the bird was too much of a heavy-handed metaphor. The could be. I like to play with the environment as an essential character in the story.

Meghan, something is afoot. I'm a little frightened too. ;)

Paisley, I'm looking forward to this series. Julia's experience is going to be a powerful one for me.

EOH, I read a little about why that happened. Polio's effects tend to worsen the older the victim. Before sanitation, many infants got polio and were never affected. Once those early infections were reduced, infections tended to be sporadic and affected older children and adults. That's when most of the bad things happened.

Szelsofa, a fair point.

Ello, this vignette will be a bit different in that it will center on one person. Julia.